Households, especially those with large families, must launder a large quantity of garments each week. Folding the laundry can be a very time-consuming chore, so a device which assists in the folding process would be a welcome addition to the household laundry equipment, particularly if it is inexpensive, easy to use, and easy to store when not in use. Moreover, folding laundry in a uniform manner, with the help of a folding device, can help make more efficient use of limited clothing storage space.
Clothing stores typically display upper-body garments, such as shirts and tops, on display shelves in a folded configuration. It is important from a merchandising standpoint for these displays to look neat and uniform. Folding such garments in a uniform and consistent manner can be difficult and time-consuming. Furthermore, in a store setting, customers are constantly rummaging through stacks of garments to find desired sizes and colors. This results in the uniform displays constantly being rearranged and messed up.
It is difficult for store personnel to consistently and uniformly fold garments without some sort of apparatus to provide guidance, because each garment may be folded along slightly different lines, which results in a non-uniform appearance when the garments are stacked. Moreover, each individual performing the folding may have a slightly different idea of how to fold the garments. A folding guide or apparatus must be lightweight and compact when not in use. The apparatus must also be inexpensive so that the store can provide numerous available devices to allow the employees to fold clothes quickly and easily without having to search around the store for a device.
Conventional tri-fold apparatuses for folding shirts and tops may lie flat on a surface, which makes it difficult to lift the side panels by their outer edges to fold the garment. Certain conventional apparatuses provide feet which extend downward in the corners of the panels to raise the apparatus off of a surface. However, because of the soft and highly flexible nature of these conventional apparatuses, the outer edges of the side panels may sag and contact the surface, making them difficult to grasp easily.